Hi Clay, thanks so much for all that information, and the time you took over it.
I deal with some smaller issues first, one , is that, this program is on the SL wiki 3D guide to programs as one supported, which is just within the commercial range, and is affordable to me, but has some more features than the free 3D modelling prgs. It also adds that numerous sl types of files/ and plugins I.E. x-plane can be used with it.
Yes I been into Aviation in sl since 2007, I know the physics of limits of vehicles, but thats not my concern right now, I also know about attachments, as have 30 aircraft I bought within sl, over the years. But attachments create a lot of problems for many flyers, especially in Blakes seas, where to fly from one airport to another, you fly 15 minutes through about 20 sims, these attachments are what causes the majority of aircraft to fail crossing sims. The purpose of buying the ready made A310 was I have access to Eazy jet, Finnair, Lufthansa, Liverys that are mapped on a model decal sheet, for that particular plane. I wanted a true re-creation of the basic shape of that plane, which was why I bought it. The site, which boasts hundreds of differant 3D models for commercial or private use, is Flash fire Designs.
I Just been back and uploaded to AC3D a free Dolphin in the 3ds format, But Im really confused, because the model I uploaded into second life is not a 3D model but a texture called .tga. I thought I was installing a dolphin object into sl??
This dolphin texture has nothing on it, just a black screen. Like the tail plane I uploaded. Why isnt the item being put into my inventory a dolphin object, or A310 tail object. I thought I was uploading an object from ACD3, as shown in the working screen. I dont understand why its not an object, i dont want a texture!! I have plenty of those. All I want is the object rezzed known as a dolphin or tailplane. It cant be that difficult, theres hundreds of aircraft for sale in second life market. They objects, either sculpty or physical. How on earth . or what type of building object, makes the dolphin?? i mean, now i dont know wether im supposed to add the finnair livery to the model in AC3D first, or add it after, but how can i do that if it comes not assembled?
As far as I was aware. all ships, planes and cars, are made by creators in an external program, before the whole creation including the texture colour. etc is uploaded and then rezzed ready for use with a hud, saying rez or delete plane, or to continue configs, mods and scripts adapted or added.
If hundreds of creators can put a jetliner/ helicopter for sale, made by them or / and with a commercial nod to the source of the basic model, as outlined in license terms in the Flashfire design Store/website, then Why cant I. Its very frustrating, as for 4 years all I have done is pay 7000US$ out on aircraft, weapons for combat, sim tiers, boats, ships, Runway lighting sytems radars and much much more, i want to be one of these people raking in 2000Linden$ for every plane they sell. plus the extra rate for doing repaint liverys. Surely its not too much to ask, to be like them? I do hope I havent wasted 130US$ on these models, I purchased them because second life says AC3D can use a 3ds file format to upload 3D models, and that what was offered , along with a huge list of formats you can buy your chosen model, before you pay for it, making sure its the right format for the program you have.
But. Im left with not even the free dolphin, in my inventory, only a texture, which I have no idea what its supposed to do, and as its completley black, with no outline of a dolphin, im as much in the dark as ever
perhaps at my age, I was born 20 years too late to understand the compexitys of 3D modeling, all the pros who sell many aircraft in second life seem to be people of 30 something. or they using a more powerful program, that i couldnt possibly afford. Which ever way, looks like my sl partner and me is not going to get MD Aviation products built any time soon
But thanks for the extensive reply, but to be honest I dont understand sculptys, really, only the normal block, tube, sphere, concepts,and thats why I chose to buy a ready made basic 3D model to alter and texture, script myself using the "Scripting your life" book, i got from amazon, Im disabled a bit by arthritis and a small amount of learning difficulty, i see things, and take them at face value, that you buy a model, and it rezzes in front of you, once you upload it to second life, unfortunetly, the way you say this sentence, is not really understandable by me, which is why I chose to import whole model.
(( " When you do that I have to first save the work together as a .ac file. This is all of it together. Then I have to delete all but one part at a time. Say airplane fuslage. I save that by itself as a .ac then I go to export and export as normal second life sculpty which saves it as a .tga file. Then reopen my aircraft .ac file and start delete all but say the wing section. Again save the wing as a seperate .ac file. then export for Second life as a normalized sculpty which is a .tga file. ))
you say I have to use a premade sculpty object in AC3D, isnt the uploaded A310 from Flashfire a sculpty object? is there a basic sculpty library of shapes in Ac3D then? How do I apply them to the the A310?
I have patience, but Im easily confused following this type of dialogue.. As i say, I did upload a .tga file of the free dolphin, as a normal so called sculpty, but its quite useless as a blank texture?
Looks like I wont be needing that new computor, or the license for this program after all, at least I havent spent out on the computor yet. I really dont know which way to turn now, i just rented a homestead and put a platform at 500 feet to work on, and my friend, partner is. or was going to deal with customers and build the platform as working environment, because I was going to build a 3 gate modern terminal. with auto jetways that close onto the parked plane doors, using a sensor script once the aircraft nose wheel touches a pad. other items were going to be baggage cars check in desks, and other aviation products. Oh well. look like it back to playing my face book games, its even more dissapointing, because I Borrowed a lot of money on my new credit card to buy the new computor so I could use the phoenix viewer, buy the scripting books, the pdf on how to build by Killerguides, the tiers for the sim. etc etc. I go and cry into my beer now lol